A nearly two year old toddler was killed when 911 dispatchers failed to provide CPR instructions over the phone to the mother of the boy caught in a soccer net in a suburb of Dallas, TX. The boy’s mother, panic stricken and desperate to save her son, cut him from the net with scissors, transferred the boy to the family couch, and called 911. Sadly, the 911 dispatcher refused to give her CPR directions over the phone and when police arrived on the scene, she and her other son were relegated to an adjacent bedroom in the family home. Police also refused paramedics access to the boy for ten minutes. The boy died three days later in the hospital.
In their lawsuit against the municipality, the 911 dispatcher, and the ambulance provider, the family is seeking an unspecified amount in damages in a jury trial. They are dismayed at the city’s 911 operators’ and police forces’ negligence in attempting to save their son’s life via necessary and vital CPR techniques before it was too late.
recently named in the 2009 edition of Best Lawyer's In America, David Mittleman has been representing seriously injured people since 1985. A partner with Church Wyble PC—a division of Grewal Law PLLC—Mr. Mittleman and his partners focus on medical malpractice, wrongful death, car accidents, slip and falls, nursing home injury, pharmacy/pharmacist negligence and disability claims.
3 Comments
JILL PAUL RN
David, I can sort of understand why the 911 dispatchers could not give CPR instructions to an obviously distraught Mother over the phone, but, I cannot understand why the Dallas Police did not start CPR immediately upon arrival at the house. To prohibit the Paramedics access to the child upon arrival, is criminal. At our hospital, even the transport aides must be certified in basic CPR. How very sad. Thank you.
check your facts
This did not happen in Dallas and they are not suing the city of Dallas. This all happened in the city of Murphy, TX. Read the story.
Susanne
This is appalling...I cannot understand how or why police would deny emergency workers access to the boy...I would consider those officers guilty of negligent homicide or at least manslaughter if that were indeed the case...
I also do not understand quite how being caught in a child's net can cause a fatality, or why an emergency dispatcher would refuse to give CPR instructions...Dispatchers frequently give CPR instructions over the phone to distraught loved ones-Saving many lives...Yes, it may require a bit more caution performing CPR on a young child but doing nothing at all-is much-much worse...
My heart goes out to that Mom...Losing one's own child is perhaps the worst fate in this world.
I am still trying to come to terms myself with why my oldest brother-an active 30 plus year veteran vol. fireman/fire police in upstate NY, would stand by and refuse to even try to give CPR or "mouth to mouth" to our mother-who suddenly had trouble breathing & went into cardiac arrest...While(Falsely) "Claiming" that he "didn't know how"...as he supposedly watched our dad struggling to learn it from the 911 dispatchers over the phone. My Mother was eventually "brought back" by other Vol.firemen who later responded to the call-but too much time had elapsed without her receiving any oxygen. She ended up in a coma with apparently limited brain activity. She never recovered or regained consciousness. Although I kept a vigil with my dad & other brothers to be with her around the clock, and though she gradually stabalized-she died about three weeks later-during the only hour that she was ever left alone.
Purposely standing by-doing nothing-or not even trying to save someone in an emergency situation, especially when we know how, is murder in my book...
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